Fifty years ago, Michael Polanyi wrote his classic essay in defence of the autonomy of scientific enquiry: The Republic of Science: its political and economic theory. Contrasting with this vision, the past 30 years have seen the proliferation of Global Environmental Assessments (GEAs) which are explicitly associated with societal goals. The most recent example is the Intergovernmental science- policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) which has been officially established in April 2012 and aims at tackling the “biodiversity crisis”. In this paper, we provide some context regarding the multiplication of GEAs and highlight their key characteristics (drawing upon concepts from science studies). After reviewing briefly some of the lessons that have been learned regarding the effectiveness of GEAs, we argue that the main tensions affecting the authority of GEAs can either be related to their horizontal dimension – that is between science and policy – or their vertical dimension – between different scales (local/global). Building on results from science studies and political science, we show that the tensions arising from these two dimensions can be associated with their geographical sensitivity and the fact that “place matters”. A spatial understanding of authority is needed to describe how place, or locality, affects the epistemic and political dimensions of expertise.

Borie, M. and Hulme, M. (2013). The authority of expertise in Global Environmental Assessments: IPBES and the challenge of placefulness. 3S Working Paper 2013-18. Norwich: Science, Society and Sustainability Research Group.

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Knowledges and Expertise

Different types of knowledge are important when seeking to understand environmental issues: alongside scientific and technical knowledge, experiential, embodied, indigenous and local knowledges are often called upon in public discourse. The boundaries between these different forms of knowledge are often fluid and they can be expressed through different types of expertise. Confrontations between these different forms of knowledge and expertise can trigger public controversy. This research strand of the 3S Group studies the origins of these different forms of environmental knowledge and how their associated types of expertise are authorised in various social settings. This understanding can contribute to an improved grasp of the dynamics between evidence and policymaking and to appreciating the role and limits of knowledge in contributing to social and cultural change.

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We conduct world-leading research on the social and political dimensions of environment and sustainability issues. 3S is based in the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, UK.